News and analysis of critical issues in homeland security

June 5, 2006

Two people who know a helluva lot about homeland security – former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 Commission Co-Chair Tom Kean – weigh in today on the controversy over the homeland security grant allocations:

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke out Monday for the first time about the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to slash anti-terrorism funding for New York, blaming poor decision making and “a certain level of incompetence.”

But Giuliani, a Republican, said he didn’t believe political considerations had led to the 40 percent cut and said he was encouraged by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s willingness to review the agency’s decision.

“I think the decision was wrong from everything I know about it,” Giuliani said in an interview with The Associated Press. “You have to assume we are a big target, because terrorists want to hit a big target and kill a lot of people with spectacular effect.”

….”It defies common sense,” said Tom Kean, the former New Jersey governor who headed the bipartisan inquiry into the government’s failure to stop the 2001 attacks. “If there’s one thing Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida have made clear it’s that New York and Washington are the prime targets and remain the prime targets.”

While the Department of Homeland Security has criticized New York’s funding application, Kean said he reviewed the city’s anti-terror efforts about six months ago at the mayor’s request and declared them “a model for the country.”